AUTHOR=Chen Hongyan , Li Yuexiu , Liu Qi , Shi Qingli , Wang Jingfang , Shen Huicong , Chen Xuzhu , Ma Jun , Ai Lin , Zhang Yu Mei 
  
TITLE=Abnormal Interactions of the Salience Network, Central Executive Network, and Default-Mode Network in Patients With Different Cognitive Impairment Loads Caused by Leukoaraiosis
  
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neural Circuits
  
VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2019
  
YEAR=2019
  
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/fncir.2019.00042
  
DOI=10.3389/fncir.2019.00042
  
ISSN=1662-5110
  
ABSTRACT=Leukoaraiosis (LA) is considered to be associated with cognitive impairment in the older people. This alteration can be reflected in functional connectivity (FC) based on resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI). In this study, we used the triple brain network model to investigate altered changes in FC for LA with different cognitive impairment loads determined by the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Eighty-three subjects were divided into four groups based on their clinical diagnosis: the LA-normal cognition group (LA-NC) (n=14, 6 males), LA with mild cognitive impairment (LA-MCI) group (n=27, 13 males), LA with vascular dementia (LA-VD) group (n=12, 6 males) and matched healthy controls (HC) (n=30, 11 males). The triple brain network model includes the default-mode network (DMN), salience networks (SN) and the central executive network (CEN), which were extracted with independent components analysis (ICA) and region of interest (ROI)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    based analysis using the REST toolbox. LA group presented decreased FC for all these three brain networks, compared with matched healthy controls. For inter-brain network analysis, there were decreased negative FC between the SN and DMN in LA group. While there were enhanced inter-brain network FC between the SN and CEN as well as within the SN. The decrease of FC between SN and DMN may reflect the damage mechanism of cognitive impairment of LA, which can compensate with the enhanced inter-brain network between SN and CEN and intra-brain network FC within the SN.